[Rhodes22-list] I'm back from the hospital

[David Bradley]

Roger, very glad to hear things are progressing well. I wish you all the best for a speedy and continued recovery. I gotta say, I really love reading your posts and seeing your engineering brain at work.

Dave Bradley
S/V Sea Cloud
Old Greenwich, CT


> On Jun 5, 2021, at 10:30 AM, ROGER PIHLAJA <roger_pihlaja at msn.com> wrote:
> 
> Graham,
> 
> Yes, I have been on Xarelto blood thinner since 2018.  While I understand why I need to take an anticoagulant, the downside is that you bruise easily and bleed like a hemophiliac from every minor cut.
> 
> I expect to on Tikosyn for the foreseeable future.
> 
> I am cautiously optimistic today.  Life is good!
> 
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Jun 5, 2021, at 9:39 AM, Graham Stewart <gstewart8 at cogeco.ca> wrote:
>> 
>> Roger:
>> 
>> Good to hear that the procedure went well. It is amazing what they are able
>> to do on an apparently routine, for them, basis. You must be relieved and it
>> sounds like you are getting back to normal very quickly.
>> 
>> I am going to look up Tikosyn as it sounds like an amazing drug. I assume
>> that you will be taking it on an ongoing basis. Are you also on
>> anticoagulants?
>> 
>> Graham Stewart
>> Agile, Rodes 22, 1976
>> Kingston Ontario
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Rhodes22-list [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of
>> ROGER PIHLAJA
>> Sent: Saturday, June 5, 2021 6:45 AM
>> To: The Rhodes 22 Email List
>> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] I'm back from the hospital
>> 
>> Hi All,
>> 
>> The 3 day Tikosyn loading procedure went pretty well.  They took their best
>> guess as to an appropriate dose and I responded well.  When I checked in on
>> Tuesday morning, the initial EKG showed me going in and out of A-Fib.  The
>> data logs from my implanted pacemaker showed I was in A-Fib ~50% of the
>> time!  When they started dosing me with Tikosyn, I reverted back to normal
>> sinus rhythm almost immediately.  They didn't have to do an electrical
>> cardiac inversion (i.e. shock treatment!) to get my heart back into normal
>> sinus rhythm.  They were also prepared to do another cardiac ablation and
>> upgrade my implanted pacemaker from a 2 lead to a 3 lead unit.  If they had
>> to do that, the cardiac ablation would have been used to kill off all the
>> remaining biological pacemaker cells and completely rely on the upgraded
>> pacemaker.  It may come to that in the future.  But, for the moment we're
>> going to stick with the 2 lead pacemaker and Tikosyn.  They also did an
>> ultrasonic echo cardiogram to determine how enlarged my heart has gotten
>> after all this A-Fibbing and measure the volume % ejected.  These
>> measurements will be needed for the procedure next week.  I was hooked up to
>> a wireless cardiac monitor for the entire 3 days I was in the hospital.  So,
>> they were monitoring my heart function constantly while I was getting loaded
>> up on Tikosyn.  By the morning of the 2nd day of Tikosyn loading, my
>> wireless cardiac monitor showed I was in normal sinus rhythm and didn't
>> glitch once from then on!
>> 
>> I actually feel much better.  But, lying about in a hospital is one thing
>> and actually living a normal life is another.  So, for an initial cardiac
>> insult test,  I mowed my front lawn yesterday.  I felt OK afterwards.  I was
>> also climbing up on a ladder measuring the length of my mast for Allyn,
>> again with no apparent ill effects.
>> 
>> I'm scheduled for another COVID-19 test this Sunday.  Then, I have to
>> quarantine until I go into the hospital on June 10th for a cardiac
>> catheterization procedure.  If nothing goes crooked, this will be a 1 day
>> out patient procedure.   But, this is exploratory laparoscopic surgery. They
>> might have to keep me longer depending on what they find &/or if something
>> goes crooked with the procedure itself.  Thanks for all the kind wishes and
>> please keep me in your prayers.
>> 
>> Roger Pihlaja
>> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>> 
>> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows
>> 10
>>